Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The Martyrdom of Polycarp, if it were indeed authentic and datable to the mid-second century, would give us an important glimpse of developing attitudes to martyrdom in this period, and also offer corroboration of Irenaeus' claim to be in touch with apostolic teaching. A brief examination of the cases for and against this dating and the work's genuineness shows that, despite a number of odd features, especially the failure of Polycarp's trial to follow established Roman legal practice, there is still no compelling reason not to see it as a unified work, nor to date it any later than 156.¹

Keywords

Polycarp Apostolic Fathers martyrdom second century Smyrna

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Barnes, T. D. , ‘A Note on Polycarp’ , Journal of Theological Studies n.s. 18 (1967), pp. 433–437 .

Barnes, T. D. , ‘Pre-Decian Acta Martyrum’ , Journal of Theological Studies n.s. 19 (1968), pp. 509–531 .

Burton, G. P. , ‘Proconsuls, Assizes and the Administration of Justice under the Empire’ , Journal of Roman Studies 65 (1975), pp. 92–106 .

Buschmann, Gerd, Das Martyrium des Polykarp (Kommentar zu den Apostolischen Vätern, 6; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998).

Cadoux, Cecil John , Ancient Smyrna, A History of the City from the Earliest Times to 324 A.D. ( Oxford: Basil Blackwell , 1938).

Campenhausen, Hans von, Bearbeitungen und Interpolationen des Polykarpmartyriums (Sitzungsberichte der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, 1957, 3; Heidelberg: Winter, 1957), reprinted in von Campenhausen, Aus der Frühzeit des Christentums, Studien zur Kirchengeschichte des ersten und zweiten Jahrhunderts (Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1963), pp. 253–301.

Dehandschutter, B. , ‘The Martyrium Polycarpi: a Century of Research’, in Wolfgang Haase and Hildegard Temporini (eds.), Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt II.27.1 ( Berlin: Walter de Gruyter , 1993), pp. 485–522.

Ehrman, Bart D. (ed. and tr.), The Apostolic Fathers (Loeb Classical Library, 24; 2 vols; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press , 2002).

Lake, Kirsop (ed. and tr.), The Apostolic Fathers (Loeb Classical Library; 2 vols; London: William Heinemann , 1913).

10.

Lightfoot, J. B. , The Apostolic Fathers, Part II, S. Ignatius. S. Polycarp (3 vols.; London: Macmillan & Co. , 2nd edn, 1889).

11.

Mommsen, Theodor , Le Droit Pénal Romain (tr. J. Duquesne; Manuel des antiquités romaines, 17–19; 3 vols.; Paris: Albert Fontemoing , 1902).

12.

Robert, Louis, Le Martyre de Pionios, prêtre de Smyrne (ed. G. W. Bowersock and C. P. Jones; Washington: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1994).

13.

Ronchey, Silvia, Indagine sul Martirio di san Policarpo (Nuovi Studi Storici, 6; Rome: Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo, 1990).

14.

Schneemelcher, Wilhelm , and Rodolphe Kasser , ‘The Acts of Paul’, in Wilhelm Schneemelcher (ed.), New Testament Apocrypha (tr. R. McL. Wilson; 2 vols.; Cambridge: James Clarke & Co., rev. edn, 1991–92), 2: 213-270 .

15.

Sherwin-White, A. N. , Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament ( Oxford: Clarendon Press , 1963).

16.

Snyder, Graydon F. , Ante-Pacem, Archaeological Evidence of Church Life before Constantine (rev. edn; Macon: Mercer University Press , 2003).